Most of my recorded material has been in small group configurations. I have not released large orchestral works as recordings because it hasn't been within the realm of possibility.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
All my records have been written to be records, rather than writing a group of songs and seeing if they fit together.
I don't think a lot of bands and artists work as hard as we do on the creation, on the writing, the arrangements and the recording in our format.
All I'm really interested in musically is trying to make concept albums. Serving a larger sum than the parts.
I've always had a bazillion songs in my archive, but I want to play people stuff they know. Now that I have two albums' worth of material, that gives me freedom to compose a set that's more well-balanced and build a show rather than just a recital of some songs.
I generally prefer to come in to the studio with a fully written song and then work on the arrangement with the band. Sometimes even the arrangements are pretty much already worked out in my head, but other times we experiment.
I've got my own studio, and I've got four- to five-hundred unreleased tracks. I've got stuff that's electronic, orchestral, jazz, I've got rock, I've got metal, you know, I don't have polka.
I have so much music inside me I'm just trying to stay afloat. I don't tend to write for a particular band - you have to just write the songs and then let God into the room and let the music tell you what to do.
I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.
In order to make my solo shows as interesting as possible, I moved songs onto very different instruments so that I was moving instruments quite a lot during the set.
At the end of the day, every decision I make about my music is about creating a collective.